First
open 'YaBB.pl', which is in the 'cgi-bin/YaBB' folder of the package
you downloaded. This file contains a path to your server's Perl location.
Generally, this setting is correct, but Perl can be installed in different
locations. For example on a Windows or WinNT machine, your Perl path
should probably be set to #!C:/Perl/Bin. Check your server for the proper
path and change accordingly.

Next open 'Settings.pl' and set the variables inside as follows:

Required
Settings-->

$mbname

The
name of your YaBB forum

$boardurl

URL
of your board's folder (without trailing '/') - where YaBB.pl
is located

$cookieusername

Name
of the username cookie (no change necessary)

$cookiepassword

Name
of the password cookie (no change necessary)

$mailprog

Location
of your sendmail program (generally "/usr/sbin/sendmail" or similar)

$webmaster_email

Your
e-mail address, such as qq~webmaster@mysite.com~

$boarddir

Absolute
path to the board's folder (usually can be left as '.')

$datadir

Directory
with messages (can be left alone unless you wish to move elsewhere)

$memberdir

Directory
with member files (can be left alone unless you wish to move elsewhere)

$boardsdir

Directory
with board data files (can be left alone unless you wish to move
elsewhere)

$sourcedir

Directory
with YaBB source files (can be left alone unless you wish to move
elsewhere)

$vardir

Directory
with variable files (can be left alone unless you wish to move
elsewhere)

$facesurl

URL
to your avatars folder (without trailing '/')

$facesdir

Absolute
Path to your avatars directory (this MUST be correct for profile
page to display)

The remaining
settings in Settings.pl are not required, but are only feature and layout
variables. It is recommended that you DO NOT change them until you get
YaBB working! After that, have fun....

Open 'template.html' and modify the layout as you wish (to make it look
like your site). Note: the tags beginning with "<yabb " MUST REMAIN
in the template.html file. You may move them around as you wish, but leave
them somewhere in the file, or things will not show up. The tag "<yabbnews>"
has been removed in this version, in favor of the NewsFader script. You
may insert this tag if you would like the old text news format back on
your YaBB. (But be sure to set $ShowNewsFader to '0' before you put that
tag back in, or you'll have the news twice on the Board Index.) It is
recommended that you do not change template.html either until you get
YaBB working!

Although we think it is great that people like to "hack YaBB" and make
mods, NEVER install mods before installing a new yabb board. Always get
the board to work first, then install mods and reupload your files. YaBB
does not support any mods - you are on your own if you install them.

Step
2 - Create Directories

In your
'cgi-bin', create a directory called "yabb" (or whatever name you wish
to use). If you do not have a cgi-bin, then first create a directory
called 'cgi-bin' and then inside that create the 'yabb' directory. The
example structure is provided in the YaBB package you've downloaded.

Then, in a
section of your webspace (outside the cgi-bin, generally in a 'public_html'
folder, as suggested in the package's folders), create another directory
called 'yabbimages' or something similar:

/yabbimages/

And create
another directory called 'yabbhelp' or something similar in a section
of your webspace:

/yabbhelp/

Step
3 - Upload Files

Place the
files from the downloaded zip into the directories as shown below and
be sure to "chmod" them as shown below. Be sure to upload ALL .pl/.cgi files
in ASCII mode. Chmod is not supported on Windows servers, so there is
no need to do that step after uploading (or extracting) the files. On a Windows/NT server, however,
you will need to give the data folders (those specified to be chmod 777) full read/write permissions.

Try to execute
your YaBB board now! In your web browser, go to the url that you specified
in $boardurl of Settings.pl with /YaBB.pl (or /YaBB.cgi for the cgi version)
on the end (such as http://www.mysite.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl). Remember
most servers are case-sensitive.

If you
can't run the board, please re-do the above 3 steps and consulting the
troubleshooting section of this manual. After you have successfully
run your YaBB board from the web, you need to try logging in. The default
username is "admin" and default password is "admin". They will always
be so when you install a new YaBB board. Login with that information
and you should see an "Admin" icon in the menu of the YaBB board. Clicking
it will take you to the "Admin Center" where you can see all sorts of
nifty things to do.

Test everything
(that you know exists), such as posting, registering a new member, modifying
message.. etc. Then after that, go to the admin center to create some
new boards.